1871 ] 



NEW ENGLAND FAII:MER. 



225 



a guild of craftsmen and a guild of men of liberal 

 training is that the professor or master of liberal 

 arts, In- whatever name he may be called, medi;i!val 

 or of our own time, has no secrets in his calling." 



He then complimented the medical profession by 

 saying that it "has distinguished itself in stigma- 

 tizing with every brand the meanness which would 

 keep truth as private property." 



On this principle of classification agi-iculture may 

 claim to rank with the "liberal professions." Far- 

 mers have no "secrets in their calling." Though 

 sometimes deceived and overreached by those who 

 assume to "keep truth as private property," — by 

 dealers in secret nostrums, patent manures and pa- 

 tent implements, — farmers themselves act on the 

 principle which Mr. Hale claims as the badge of 

 the "master of the liberal arts" or the learned pro- 

 fessions. In his conversation with private individ- 

 uals and in his communications with the public 

 through the journals devoted to his profession, the 

 farmer has always freely connnunicated all the 

 facts which his study of principles and his experi- 

 ments in practice have developed or illustrated. 



The mechanic or manufacturer may have "se- 

 crets in his calling;" he may perform some of his 

 processes with closed doors, lest the truth which 

 he holds as "private property" should be divulged, 

 but the best results of our best farmers are open to 

 the inspection and imitation of all. The columns 

 of the New England Farmer and of other agri- 

 cultural papers are suflicient proof of the "liber- 

 ality" of farmers, and good evidence that they 

 have no secrets in their calling, no desire to keep 

 truth as private property. 



To this general rule we are soriy to acknowledge 

 there are exceptions. A few cultivators of the soil 

 would have us recede from this high position, and 

 ask Congress to make a law recognizing the right 

 of individuals to "keep truth as private property," 

 to legalize "secrets in our calling," and to make 

 the flowers of the field, the fruits of our orchards, 

 and the woods of our trees patentable articles. 



Importation of Wool. — According to statistics 

 furnished by James Lynch, Esq., of the New York 

 Custom House, the amount of foreign wool im- 

 ported into this country during the past six years 

 has been as follows : — 



1870 12,470,351 pounds 



1869 21,4^)0,330 " 



1868 12,319,361 " 



1867 17.904,779 " 



1866 36,066.186 " 



1865 30,266,540 " 



Horses in Iowa. — A correspondent of the 

 Monthly Report of the Department of Agriculture, 

 in Muscatine Co., Iowa, says, the raising of horses 

 has been overdone there. We, as a farming 

 class, have been crazy on the subject of speed, and 

 are now reaping the fruits of our folly. Had we a 

 number of years ago entered into the raising of 

 horses for the farm instead of the turf, we would 

 not have the comparatively worthless animals now 



on our hands — not fast enough to win nor large 

 enough to work. The majority of fiirmers are, 

 however, again raising such horses as will always 

 find ready sale. The Percheron is meeting with 

 much favor. Mules are almost entirely neglected. 

 Those wanting them, in most cases, go to the 

 neighboring section of Illinois, where they are 

 quite extensively raised. 



Discontented Yankees Invited South. — After 

 giving some extracts from the late article of our 

 correspondent, N. S. T., in relation to the decrease 

 of population in New England, and as to the im- 

 portance of a home supply of food to success in 

 manufacturing, the South Land expresses the hope 

 that the unparalleled advantages offered by the 

 South will not be overlooked by the discontented 

 and unsettled people of the Eastern States, and 

 says, "here we have not only the capacity to pro- 

 duce an abundant supply of all the necessaries of 

 life within easy range of splendid sites for facto- 

 ries ; but we can and do produce the raw material 

 for manufactures, of a quality that defies competi- 

 tion. Let the field and factory be brought within 

 sight of each other, as they should be, and such 

 elements of success are not to be found elsewhere 

 as here in the South." 



For the New England Farmer. 



DEPOPULATION OF RURAL TOWNS 

 IN NEW ENGLAND. 



Although not in the habit of writinp; news- 

 paper articles, the perusal of the essay bear- 

 ing the above title, from the pen of N. S. T. 

 of Lawrence, which appeared in a late number 

 of the Farmer, made such an impression on 

 my mind that I cannot resist the temptation of 

 offering a few thoughts on the same subject. 



And" first, Mr. Editor, allow me to return 

 my sincere thanks to N. S. T. for the excel- 

 lent ideas he has so happily expressed and 

 suggested ; and which, I doubt not, will be 

 appreciated by many a true lover of the beau- 

 tiful hills of New England. 



For many years 1 have noticed with painful 

 feelings the prevalence of the evil of wliich he 

 speaks ; but as 1 live in more of a manufactur- 

 ing than agricultural district, 1 was not aware 

 that it was so alarmingly wide-spread until the 

 census reports revealed the fact. 



With the facts thus developed, no one of 

 ordinary observation will attempt to deny the 

 truth of the remark, that if something is not 

 done to arrest the tide of migi-ation, "ere long 

 wild animals will return to their former haunts 

 amid the hills and valleys of our dear old New 

 England." 



Allowing, as we must, that the principal 

 decrease in our population arises from direct 

 migration, and that too of those between the 

 ages of twenty and thirty -five years, we are 

 led to incjuire into the causes of the migration 

 of this class of- people — a class so much needed 



